No Greater Love Shown
by Tinaroo
Summary: Ash, Misty and Brock attempt to stop a Pokemon's attacks on humans in the Viridian Forest. Hints of AAML.


**Disclaimer**

If I owned Pokemon I wouldn't be spending weeks writing fanfic about now would I? I do own Joel though. His mind, his body, his very soul. *evil laugh***  
**

**No Greater Love Shown**

"ASH! Hold on!"

Sometimes I couldn't believe how boneheaded he could be. He was always so reckless, especially when Pikachu was in trouble.

"Grab on to my hand," I cried as I leaned over the canyon wall.

Ash reached for it but slipped, falling onto a narrow ledge below.

"I know. Bulbasaur, use your vine whip!"

A flash of red and the grass-poison type pokémon easily hauled Ash and Pikachu to safety.

"See, Misty. I told you it would be no problem."

"No problem! You could have died! You're always chasing after Pikachu without thinking first!"

"Well excuse me for caring about my friends! Maybe Togepi would rather be with a trainer who would look after her properly."

"HEY! I look after Togepi better than you ever would but if she ever runs off at least I'll make sure not to run into a giant hole in the ground!"

Brock stood there with his arms folded.

"Alright, that's enough. Don't you want to find out what Pikachu was so excited about?"

Ash' eyes lit up.

"Yeah! I bet it's some rare pokémon for me to capture."

And he's off. Sometimes I think his brain needs to be checked. Always running off into trouble. Always acting first; thinking later. And always I'm the one who has to bail you out Ash! Why can't you grow up! You'd better not get into any more trouble today, I don't want to lose my best friend yet. And I don't know if I'll always be there to...

"Ow!"

I'd just walked into the subject of my contemplation. He was staring at the small purple body on the ground.

"Pikapi!"

Pikachu was sniffing around the bushes.

"It's a rattata! And it looks like it's been badly injured."

Brock knelt down to inspect the pokémon.

"Just as I suspected. These welts are poison stings from some kind of bug-type pokémon."

"Bugs!"

I hate bugs, they're such horrible creepy crawly things.

"What's the matter, Misty?" Ash teased, "Still afraid of a little caterpie?"

Argh! I gave him my best glare. Won't he ever leave me alone?

"This was no caterpie. I'd say beedrill – or at least weedle – and definitely more than one."

The pokémon breeder looked a little more thoughtful.

"And if I were to take a guess, this rattata isn't wild. Look, it's teeth aren't as worn down as they would be by eating wild nuts and roots."

"Oh no! That's terrible! We have to get it to a Pokémon Centre right now."

Bundling it in my arms, I started running back the direction we had come.

"Misty, stop!"

So I stopped... well not voluntarily. Ash was looking intently at me while I lay sprawled over the young boy I had tripped over.

"Aww, how sweet Misty. Pity he's got welts all over his face though, eh?"

"Mind your own business!" I shouted, perhaps a little too rushed, as I picked myself up.

Ash - what did he know about this sort of thing. Such an immature mind.

"Misty, it's too late for that rattata," Brock managed to splutter out between short breaths. "This young trainer may still make it though. We'd better get him out of here."

SLAM!

The three young, wet adventurers tumbled into the abandoned shack.

"Damn it, Ash! Why'd you have to take another of your stupid shortcuts?"

"Hey that's enough!" interrupted Brock, " No fighting while we have a dying patient on our hands."

"But he..."

"No buts. Ash, get me some of the poisoncure berries."

Hmph! I turned to rummage in my backpack.

"Watcha doing Misty?" came that teasing voice.

I'm ignoring you, you dimwit.

"I'm reading. If we're going to be stuck here I may as well do something to pass the time."

"Well why don't you do something useful and soak this cloth in rainwater. He's burning up. And Ash, stop pestering Misty and give me a hand with this poisoncure."

Ha! I stuck my tongue out at Ash and got a glare in return.

Three hours later found us still waiting out the storm , and for our new patient to stop dying. At least he's still alive. I'd probably throttle Ash if his stupid wandering cost this guy his life. Brock's spent so much time around Nurse Joy; it's no wonder he's such a good doctor.

My thoughts were interrupted by a realization.

"Hey Brock, the rain's just suddenly stopped. It was thundering down just before."

"That's pretty weird, I agree. I think one of us should take this chance to see if we can't find the road again."

"Well let _me_ go. I'm tired of listening to _him_ jabber on about how he's going to become the all-powerful master of pokémon."

Ash had yet to think of a good comeback as I slammed the door a second later.

Leaves gently floated through the air, gently brushing my cheek. I watched the dappled shadows shift with the swaying canopy. It was such a beautiful evening. A different world to the storm before.

"Togeprii!"

"Oh, I know I'm supposed to be looking for the nearest road but it's so beautiful out. And the more time we spend out here, the less time we're cooped up with Mr. Arrogant."

"Toge-togeprii!"

I let out a small giggle.

"You agree with me, don't you Togepi?"

Togepi wriggled out of my arms.

"Toge toge toge toge..."

"Hey! Where are you going, Togepi?" I called as I followed her. "You want to do some more exploring?"

"Prii!"

"OK. The boys don't need us at the moment anyway."

I was enjoying the solitude. No stress. No pressure. No pointless conversations about this or that topic she barely cared about. No Ash to get me hopelessly lost. No Brock to obsess at the mere sight of a girl; except me. I don't know whether to be pleased or insulted about this. It left me free for someone else... no enough of that. He was hardly likely to wake up anytime soon. What was I thinking about before? Something to do with stress? Not caring about stuff? Getting lost?

That last thought jolted me to my senses.

"Which direction was the cabin in again?"

"Prii?"

"Uh... um... I think it might have been this way," I said with less than absolute conviction. "Oh! I hope this the right way back."

The thought of being lost out in the woods alone made me panic a little. At least when Ash got me lost I was with friends. Now I've stupidly gotten myself lost with no one.

It feels like I've been trudging through this forest for hours without getting anywhere. I could be going in circles here. And it was starting to get dark too. Drawing Togepi closer I picked up my pace. The cabin had to be somewhere!

RUMBLE

Thunder! Why is it so stormy here today?

"Priiiii!"

"Oh no, don't cry."

But I felt like crying myself. I was lost, cold, hungry, lonely and about to be wet. I collapsed at the foot of a tree. I'd even be glad if Ash was here.

RUMBLE

It sounded closer. I felt togepi step on my hand... Except she was in my lap...

"Paras!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Blind with panic, I started sprinting in the direction I prayed led to some sort of shelter. I finally had to stop. Breathing heavily, I noticed too late that I'd walked into the vicinity of a beedrill hive.

BZZZZZZZZZ!

And they didn't sound happy.

"Oh my god!" I whimpered.

This was definitely not my night. Why did it have to be bug pokémon? Anything else I could deal with.

BZZZZZZZZ!

I looked down at my sleeping togepi.

I whispered, "I'll protect you, no matter what."

Then I ran. I ran and ran until I was on the verge of collapse but I kept going. I could hear the beedrill getting closer. This wasn't fair. I was supposed to be with my friends in front of a roaring fire. Eating Brock's great food and chatting with Ash about pokémon. Tears streamed down my face. I miss him. Will he ever find me? Is he even worried about me? I sank to the ground from exhaustion and despair. The beedrill angrily buzzed closer.

"I'm sorry Togepi. I tried..."

Looking up, the last thing I saw was the swarm descending upon us. Then bright light.

Flames shot past my face and my eyes water from the heat. Am I in hell? "Charizard, finish them off with fire spin!"

My dark haired friend knelt beside me.

"A-Ash? You're in hell too?" I weakly croaked.

"Hell? What are you talking about Misty."

Suddenly I was overwhelmed by giddiness. I felt sick and I fell gratefully into the welcoming black abyss.

When I awoke, Brock was standing there with the first aid kit.

"You had some quite nasty cuts."

"Wh-What happened?"

"Well you were gone for quite some time and Ash got pretty worried. I told him you'd be fine but he insisted on going out to look for you when you didn't come back."

He looked a little embarrassed at this.

"Ash was gone for so long, I started worrying for _him_. When he finally got back he said you'd been attacked by beedrill and it was a good thing he had a fire type on him at the time. He's been outside all morning."

"Ash spent all that time looking for me?"

"To be honest, I don't think he would have come back without you."

"Uhh... excuse me, Brock." interrupted an unknown voice.

"Oh! I forgot to introduce you to Joel. Joel, this is Misty. Joel is a pokémon trainer who lives in Viridian. His father specializes in psychic types and he's got a curious explanation for the weird happenings."

"Weird happenings?"

"Yeah Misty, beedrill don't follow intruders for _that_ long. And Ash said he'd been attacked by butterfree while he was out last night. And let's not forget the strange weather we've been having."

"Brock," I reasoned, "It's just been a little stormy lately. Don't make a big conspiracy theory out of it."

The newcomer piped up, "Maybe, but I think a drowzee has been causing this to happen."

"A... A drowzee?"

"Yes, there's an old story about a trainer who used to train psychic pokémon. He had captured every kind of psychic pokémon and some say he even saw the legendary mew."

"Wow! He must have been really good!"

"Uh-huh. He was the Indigo League champion for twelve years running. All his pokémon were extremely powerful but his prized fighter was his drowzee who became good friends with his only daughter. But one day she was caught in a storm. All night her father searched for her but with no success. In the morning she was found dead from a poison sting attack. Ever since then, the trainer couldn't bear to be with his drowzee. The emotional pain grew so great that he finally abandoned him in this forest. His drowzee is thought to be behind the attacks on humans by controlling the minds of all the bug pokémon in this forest."

I looked downcast, "That's so sad."

I can't believe how pitiless some people are with their pokémon. But losing your only daughter at such a young age... I cast my mind back to lasts night's events. I don't remember much. Just running. And sheer, overwhelming terror. And how Brock said Ash had looked for me all night. I wonder if he would have done the same thing? No. Ash would never abandon any of his pokémon. They were his friends. Something's odd about what he said though. What was it? Someth...

"Didn't you say your father was a psychic type trainer?" I blurted out.

Brock looked horrified at my question.

"Misty! How..."

"No, she's right. That trainer was my father."

"Oh. So you think your father's drowzee is controlling bug pokémon to attack people. Why would it do that?"

"Well, when drowzee was abandoned, I think it lost its faith in the kindness of humanity so it tries to get revenge by striking fear into people. That's why it uses rain dance during the attacks. To try and emulate the night when its trainer's daughter died."

"If you knew how dangerous it was, why were you out in the forest when we found you?"

My head spun to see Ash and Pikachu standing in the doorway.

"Well, I've been hoping to find my grandfather's drowzee and convince it to stop attacking innocent people. I sort of consider it my duty in a way."

"Well we'll help you, won't we guys."

That's so typical of Ash. I nevertheless nodded in agreement. But I have a bad feeling about this.

"Ash, how are you going to battle this drowzee? You only got your soul badge because your haunter made Sabrina laugh. In fact..." I couldn't help feeling a little smug here, "... I don't remember you ever actually beating a psychic type pokémon at all."

"HEY! I won that badge fair and square!"

"Oh! You mean just like your rainbow, boulder and let's not forget your cascade badge! Half your badges were given because we felt sorry for you."

"That's not true I earned those badges with hard work and..."

"More like sheer luck and Team Rocket's interference."

"Hey guys that's enough! Now are we going to help Joel or not!"

Ash looked like he was going to explode with frustration.

"We're going to need to work as a team and we can't do that if you two are squabbling all the time."

Joel stepped forward.

"I don't want us to battle the drowzee. We need it to understand that we're friends, not enemies."

Well that _would_ be something that Ash would be good at.

"Ha! Ash is so immature; it's a wonder he has any friends." I smirked before I could stop myself.

I could feel Brock's disapproving glare. Thank God Ash was too busy talking to Joel to hear me. Maybe I should shut up before I accidently say something really terrible. Although Ash has got such a thick skin and skull that my insults have never bothered him before. I wish I could stop myself from putting him down all the time. But he really needs an ego check.

"Uhh... Earth to Misty."

"Wha...?"

My mind snapped back into focus to see Ash waving his hand in front of my face.

"I said," he started with some exasperation, "Are you ready to go?"

"What? Oh... yeah... sure." I stuttered while visibly blushing.

What made me come out on this foolhardy suicide mission? I hate bugs so why did I come? Why? We'd already faced off against paras, beedrill and even a horde of pinsir. I'd let the guys use their fire and rock type pokémon to do the battling.

"Hey Misty, you haven't done any battling yet. You sure you don't want to train your pokémon some more?"

"No... I-I'm just letting yours catch up."

I'd done it again.

"I bet it's because you're afraid of bugs, isn't it? You'll never be a good trainer like me if you're afraid of bug pokémon."

A shadow fell across Ash and my half formed comeback died in my throat as a gigantic parasect materialized behind him.

"ASH! Look out!" Brock shouted as he tried to knock the young trainer out of the way.

The parasect used a powerful slash attack, missing him by inches.

"Vulpix, flamethrower now!"

The fox pokémon let loose a jet of flames which engulfed the parasect.

Triumphantly, Brock stated, "That's got him."

The flames subdued enough for me to see... an unhurt parasect!

"Impossible! That's a bug-grass type. H-How...?"

It seemed rattled though. Releasing its spore attack; it scuttled back into the undergrowth.

"Oh no you don't!" Ash shouted as he lunged forward while holding his face against his arm.

Likewise I followed him.

"Ash, slow down!"

I have no idea where Brock and Joel are now. They could be still asleep from that spore attack. And Ash was racing ahead. What's he trying to prove anyway? I don't get why he has to act so rashly.

He finally had to stop for breath and I was able to catch up. Ash looked pretty disappointed that he'd lost the parasect.

I'm glad he did. After what we saw before, what hope does Ash think he has with it. It's simply too big.

"Ash..."

Better luck next time..?

Don't worry about it, it's only a pokémon..?

"... what do you think you're doing, running off like that?" I snapped.

He was visibly taken aback.

"You could have been seriously hurt!"

"Humph! I'm not afraid of a measly bug pokémon. Unlike you..."

"The only thing I'm afraid of is..." catching myself in time I finished, "... is your huge ego. You could sink a whole school of lapras with that thing!"

"Well at least I'm not some psycho with anger management issues!"

"I'm not the one who got us lost out here! You couldn't find your way out of a paper bag!"

"We're not lost... we're just... ... lost."

"Yeah, way to go brainiac."

"The path has to be somewhere in that direction." he pointed in the direction we had come.

"It had better be. I don't want to be stuck out in this forest at night. We don't have our gear with us."

I followed Ash for the next hour or so. Clambering over fallen trees and ducking under low branches left me pretty exhausted.

"Ash, it's getting dark. We're going to have to rough it tonight."

He sighed.

"Sorry Misty."

Sorry? That wasn't an 'Ash' thing to say. What is he sorry for? The thought bothered me as we collected firewood. It nagged away at the back of my mind as we shared a chocolate bar Ash had in his pocket. Finally, when we prepared to settle down to make the best of the night, I asked him.

"Ash, what did you mean by 'I'm sorry'?"

"Hmm..? Oh... Uh, I was just sorry I couldn't get us back to the hut. I know how much you don't like sleeping out when we do have our sleeping bags... and it was kinda my fault so... sorry again."

"Um..."

I didn't have a response to_ that_. Ash has a brain after all, who knew?

"That's alright Ash. It wasn't completely your fault."

"Well... it may not be as good as an actual blanket... but here."

Looking up, I saw Ash blushing slightly as he held as his jacket to me.

"You're going to be freezing in that shirt tonight."

Oh no. I'm blushing as well.

I quickly took the jacket and turned away before he could spot my scarlet face. Thank goodness it's getting dark.

"That's very nice of you, Ash." I mumbled "Thank you."

We lay in silence for some time. This is quite awkward but I wish he acted like this more often. It's much nicer when he plays the gentleman instead of the hero. I rolled over to look at my companion, only to find him staring back at me.

Before I could say anything, he interrupted, "Misty, I know we fight a lot, but I just want you to know that I don't mean a lot of what I say. I think... you're the nicest person I know."

Oh God! What do I say now? But he continued on.

"You've been my best friend for as long as I can remember."

"Ash, that's very sweet of you to say..."

Crap! I had never thought about how I was actually going to tell him how much I liked him. I have nothing romantic like that.

"You're my best friend too."

That was the best I could come up with? It sounds so stupid and contrived.

"After I left my sisters and the gym, I got pretty lonely sometimes until I met you."

Oh no! Now I've said too much, I've come off sounding needy. I chanced a peek at Ash but he was lying on his back now looking deep in thought. Completely embarrassed, I left him to his thoughts and tried to get some sleep against the cold, hard ground.

"Ugh."

I hadn't had much of a sleep last night. My bones were aching from the night spent on the bare ground. I started to get up and Ash's jacket fell off me. Oh goodness! I'd completely forgotten about last night. A warm feeling washed over me as I remembered all the nice things he had said about me. Maybe he does _like_ me after all. He's definitely never acted so caring towards anyone else but his pokémon. Look at him still sleeping away.

"Oh, Ash. If only..."

I leant over him to peer at his face for a moment.

"Aaaargh!"

He leapt up smashing his head against mine. He'd been awake the whole time.

"Ow!" I said while rubbing my sore head.

"What on Earth where you doing, leaning over me like that?"

I blushed as I thought, what was I going to do?

"I was only seeing if you were awake. There's no need to get so snappy." I retorted sharply.

"Well don't do it again."

His harsh tone seemed to sting a little more than usual but I brushed it off.

"Um... do you want to have breakfast?"

He looked at me like I was extremely thick.

"Yes I do, but we don't have any food, _remember_?"

"Hey! What gotten into you? What happened to the gentlemanly Ash from last night?"

I shouldn't have said that but my words seem to have found their mark. Ash looked rather uncomfortable.

"Let's just try and find out way back to the others."

The next hour was spent in utter silence and contemplation. Was last night just a beautiful dream? It's certainly unlike Ash to behave that way towards other people. Especially me. I feel pretty pathetic; I thought he might have really cared about me but the incident this morning seemed to dispel _that_ illusion. I sighed heavily. I guess I need to wake up to reality. Ash looked over at me.

"Shhh!"

Excuse me? This is the last straw. He's really acting like an ass now. There's no way this could be the same person from last night or my dreams or whatever it was. I was about to really lay into him and give him a piece of my mind when I heard far off shouting.

"... Misty! Can... hear us? Ash!"

"That's Brock and Joel!" Ash cried.

We rushed off in the direction of the voices. I'm so glad we found the others. This place has me so bugged out and it'll be much nicer to sleep between two sheets instead of on the hard ground... even with Ash' jacket. I looked over at my best friend who was chattering away with Joel. He's such an enigma. Half the time he's doing nice things for me but then he rips my head off just because I tease him a little. Sometimes he's more perceptive and compassionate than I thought possible but most of the time you could say the same thing about how inconsiderate and idiotic he is. What was the deal with last night? Those word he said have to be the nicest things that anyone has ever told me. Now he acts like nothing ever happened. He's hardly spoken to me all morning. Does this mean he wished he'd never said what he did? Or has he simply forgotten all about the incident because it just wasn't important to him. Other lingering thoughts of doubt continued to flood my mind, even as we made it back to our rudimentary dwelling and ate the delicious lunch Brock made us.

Obviously uncomfortable with the silence, Brock queried, "So guys... What are we planning to do today?"

"Track down my father's drowzee!"

"Help Joel track down his father's drowzee!"

I hesitated for a moment, "I don't know guys. You go on ahead. I think I'll stay here today."

"What! Whatever for?"

"Yeah Misty." Ash looked at me like I'd sprouted wings and a tail. "You never turn down an adventure like this."

Well that's true but I just want to be left alone today.

"I'm not feeling well," I lied.

Ash' expression instantly changed from bemusement to concern.

"Are you feeling okay? Do you need some water?"

He reached his hand up to check my forehead. I couldn't help blushing under his touch but evidently he mistook it for a sign of fever.

"You look like you're burning up, Misty."

"No Ash, I just feel tired is all. I'll wash my pokémon and then you guys can go off looking for your drowzee."

"Horsea!"

"Now don't you squirt ink at your friends again, Horsea. I don't want to have to clean you all for a third time today."

"Hi Misty. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I replied dejectedly as Ash seated himself beside me.

"Nothing, huh? It doesn't sound like nothing. Come on Misty, tell me what's bothering you."

"It's nothing really, just about..." I tried to think of a suitable scapegoat, "...all the times you've nearly killed yourself trying to rescue your pokémon. I always have to jump in and save _you_."

"Oh. well I don't really know what to say to that. I care about Pikachu and the others a lot and... surely you understand, right?"

"Yeah, of course." I muttered.

"Besides, I never ask you to rescue me. I mean, I'm grateful and all that you would go to such lengths for me. But it's not like I'm making you have to rescue me each time."

My eyes widened in disbelief and I could barely splutter out my next few words.

"You... You don't want me to save you from drowning?"

"Well like I said, I'm very grateful that you do," he said while getting up. "Anyway, the rest of us are starting our search very soon. You're still welcome to come if you're feeling less tired."

I watched him go, amazed at this trainer who could so flippantly brush aside my own sacrifices.

"Well what do I do now, Togepi? Doesn't he realize that I care for him as much as he cares for Pikachu? Does he not care?"

Tears trickled down my neck. All that time we've spent together. Months and he still doesn't get it.

A gentle tug at my arm and a mournful "Toge" was all I got in response.

"Maybe you're right Togepi," I exhaled. "Maybe I should... Everyone, return."

There's no way Ash could have gotten himself into mortal danger _again_. I looked up at Ash who was climbing up a huge sycamore tree. Then I looked down at Brock far below. I sure had followed Ash pretty high up this tree.

"Ash, you get down here this instance!" I cried.

"Gotta save Pikachu, Misty."

"But you're going to get yourself killed!"

I tried to reach out to him but he only retreated further up.

"Ash!"

"Pikachu!"

At last he reached the top of the tree and could go no higher. Pikachu wasn't there.

"I tried to tell you, Pikachu is in another tree."

Ash looked crestfallen. I reached out a hand to pull him back down but to my horror, the moment I made contact with his arm, he slipped off his branch and hurtled towards the ground, dragging me with him as I tried to hold on to him.

"Misty," Ash sounded exasperated, "I keep telling you that I don't need your help. Why do you have to keep acting the heroine all the time?"

"I... I..."

"You what, Misty?"

He reached for his belt and pulled out a pokéball.

"Go Bulbasaur!"

All _I_ could do was watch helplessly as Ash was hauled to safety as I continued to fall until I smashed into the hard earth beneath.

"Oh!" I gasped, violently waking up.

I was breathing heavily and positively dripping with sweat. Togepi's idea of relaxing afternoon nap had seemed like a better idea when she had suggested it. Speaking of whom, where was she?

"Togepi? Togepi, where are you?"

"Toge togepriii!"

She was balanced precariously on the crockery shelves in the corner kitchen.

"Priii! Togepriii!"

"Oh Togepi, you get down from there right now before you get hurt."

I quickly took hold of the small pokémon; she was still clutching on to an egg whisk as I brought her down.

"Toge?"

"Oh you want to cook something for the others? Well I dunno..."

Ash and Brock tended not to like my cooking. I didn't much like it either come to that. Cooking had never been my strong point before but at least it would give me something to do now I had prematurely woken. The others wouldn't be back for some time yet. I had enough time to try something simple. Like bread.

"Alright, we'll give it a go."

"Priii!"

"Let's see... according to Brock's cookbook, we need self-raising flour, sugar, butter and water. We don't have any self-raising flour, Togepi. Oh well, I'm sure our ordinary flour will work just as well."

"Togepriii!"

"Now, mix all the dry ingredients together," I recited. "That's the flour and sugar. Then add the other ingredients. Hmm... that's three cups of water and where did the butter go? It was here a moment ago."

"Toge?"

"Ah, thanks Togepi." I said cheerily as I took the missing ingredient she was holding.

Despite what had been happening, I was beginning to enjoy myself. It wasn't every day I had some peaceful alone time and the simple act of making something helped soothe my fears about this whole ordeal.

Grabbing a wooden spoon, started to beat the mixture until it formed a thick dough.

"Now you wait here Togepi. I just have to go turn the gas on and get the oven warming up."

It had started to rain when I went outside. I hope the others are going to be okay out there. And Ash had better not try anything stupid, I'm not there to bail him out this time. As I walked back in, however, this was totally driven from my mind.

"Togepi!"

She was balancing a very vicious looking butcher's knife on her head, looking as pleased as punch with herself.

"Oh my gosh! Togepi, you have to stop acting so dangerously. I think I'm going to have to put you somewhere where you can't get into any more trouble."

I picked her up an deposited her into a large saucepan.

"And don't you dare cry," I sternly scolded, noticing her eyes begin to water. "I'm not having any of it today; you've got to learn to stop being so naughty."

Turning back to my work, I let my mind wander over to Ash, Brock and Joel, and how they might be faring.

"You know what, Togepi, you ad Ash are so similar. Why do the pair of you have to put yourselves into such peril all the time? Am I to always be having to rescue those I care about?"

Togepi looks up from the raisins I had given her and gave a heart-warming "Priii!" in response.

"Thanks, Togepi."

I returned to beating the dough.

"Uh... I think we now have to let it rise for a few hours in the oven. I guess it's not going to be ready before the others get back."

By the time my baking had finished, it was eight o'clock and Ash, Brock and Joel had returned some hours earlier.

"Sorry about the wait guys, and it's quite dense. I guess I couldn't get it to rise properly."

I cut a piece for each of us and took a bite... dry and crumbly. Like extremely dense styrofoam. I can't say I'm not disappointed, I'd spent such a long time making this. But given my track record in the kitchen, I'm not really all that surprised that something went horribly wrong; something always does.

Brock was the first to speak up, "Misty, did you remember to add the butter?"

"Yes, of course I did!"

"Are you sure, because it doesn't taste like it. And I think you may have used the wrong flour as well."

"Excuse me! I just used your flour. This one here that you always use with such great success."

"Yes, but that's because..." A look of genuine uncertainty crossed his face as he peered into the bag, "That's because, um... Misty, why is there a lump of butter in the flour bin?"

Ash nearly choked with laughter at this.

"Did you... Did you put the butter into the flour bin instead of the bowl?" he finally managed to splutter.

"N-no."

"Anyway," Brock continued spotting his open cook book, "You're supposed to use yeast to make bread and furthermore, this is a recipe for making scones."

"Aw come on, Brock. Misty was just trying to do something nice for us. She must have spent a long time on this as well. At least she tried."

"That's not what you said the last time she tried to cook for us."

"Yeah, well... that was... she was just cooking scrambled eggs. That doesn't take so long. The point is we should be thanking Misty for taking such an effort."

Brock looked almost as confused as I felt.

"Ash, you don't have to do that. I'm sorry my bread was such a failure."

"Nah, that's alright," he said good naturedly. "This reminds me of when I tried helping my mum cook faster by turning up the heat on the oven. I was banished from the kitchen for months after that."

I couldn't help feeling a little better as I laughed along with the others. Gosh Ash is confusing at the moment. This is definitely him being considerate. I pinched myself. No, not a dream either. Which means last night was probably real too.

"So Misty, are you feeling any better now?"

"Um... yeah, I am, thank you."

"Good because I was wondering what you thought about going after the drowzee again tomorrow."

"No, Ash." Brock interrupted looking serious. "Not after what happened today... What nearly happened."

"Hey, you didn't tell me what did happen today. I asked you but you distracted me. So what did happen?"

Silence.

"Brock... Ash?"

"Well..." Ash began sheepishly.

"He jumped in front of the drowzee's psybeam to save Pikachu. If Joel here hadn't knocked him aside, who knows what might have happened."

"Aw, it was nothing, really."

"Ash, we discussed this before, this drowzee is too dangerous. Tomorrow morning, we're getting out of this forest to alert the authorities and that's final."

Ash looked furiously mutinous, but not as furious as I.

"Ash! I can't believe you did that! Don't you ever just stop and think before you do anything?"

"Don't bring this up again!" he fired back. "Pikachu was in danger. I had to save him."

"Pikachu? Pikachu is fine, just look at him."

"He was going to get hit by a psybeam attack, you're telling me that he would have been fine?"

"I'm telling you that Pikachu is much faster that you are, Ash. He could easily have dodged it if you had had him use agility instead of blindly acting the hero as always."

"Oh, what, now you're criticising my battling skills? I'm a better pokémon battler than you'll ever be. Just get over that."

"Oh whatever! We all know you get by on pure luck more than anything else."

"Alright guys, enough's en..."

"Quiet, Brock. Why don't you shut up for a change and stop giving advice that nobody wants! And as for you, Ash. You need to stop trying to acting like you have a death wish or something. Next time you want to throw yourself in front of bus to save someone, why don't you think about how other people would feel if you died. Think about how your mother would feel!"

"I don't need a telling off from someone who spends all her time lost in some fairy tale. I've got news for you, Misty Waterflower. You're not going to get rescued by a prince on horseback and live happily ever after. Get a grip on reality! And I'm sick of you complaining about this and that. If you don't like the way I do things, do them yourself. If you don't like the way I battle, tough. You're not the one who's winning competitions and keeping us fed. You know, I wish I'd paid you back for your stupid bike as soon as I could so you would have cleared off!"

I was left utterly dumbstruck by that last remark. I'd never imagined that one could feel so much emotion at once. I was boiling over with blind fury. I wish I had a giant mallet to just whack him one over the head. What I felt mostly, though, was a crushing sense of wretchedness. Ash was only standing there, looking down on me without any show of remorse, looking as though he expected me to counter with more argument. Until, that is, the tears started rolling down my cheeks. Why did he have to say that. Oh my God... His gaze, although switched to one of confusion still cut through me like a knife. Brock and Joel's looks of sympathy only served to heighten my anguish. Suddenly, I couldn't stand to be around them. I have to get out of here. Just get away. With angry tears streaming down my face, and my very soul screaming with despair, I turned my back on the three and ran headlong into the night. I only dimly heard cries of urgency. "Stop! Wait!" they said but I kept running, trying to escape what had been said because there was no way I could face the implications that went along with it. I'm just a nuisance to him; someone to be brushed off as soon as possible? Was there really no friendship between us after all? I sat down against the base of a large tree to let out the sadness but presently, the person I wanted least to be with appeared.

"I'm sorry."

"You're... sorry?" I said with incredulity. "For what? Belittling my hopes and dreams or telling me that ever since we met, you've wanted to get rid of me. And to think that I... I... Why didn't you pay me back and spare as both?"

"I'm just sorry for everything. I didn't mean what I said. You were right when you said I can act like a real jerk sometimes."

"Ha! When I said that, I had no idea how much of an asshole you really are. You can't whitewash over this with your stupid apologies, not now that the truth has come out. I only wish I'd caught on sooner and left your sorry ass behind."

I turned and walked away from his pitiful pleadings.

"No, Misty, please wait."

His voice sounded sad and defeated, but quickly grew alarmed.

"Misty! Look out!"

He didn't have to tell me; I could see the brown and yellow nightmare before me.

"Drowzee!"

"Misty!"

"Ash?"

I let out an almighty scream as the drowzee unleashed a psybeam. Paralysed with fear, I braced myself for the inevitable. Which never came. Instead, I found myself knocked aside as Ash stepped in to take the attack. I looked on in horror as he crumpled to the ground and the drowzee vanished into the forest.

"Ash... Ash, are you okay?"

He didn't move.

"Please say something... Please... Oh God!"

The tears which had previously abated, welled up again and spilled onto Ash' still face.

"Oh my God... Please, you can't leave me. Please don't leave me. I...I love you. I love you and I never got to tell you. Please..."

My tears fell freely as I cradled Ash' lifeless form. I loved him so much and he died not knowing, not even forgiven. Oh God, I never got to forgive him! He died thinking I hated him.

"This is not fair! Not fair!" I wept.

The next half hour or so was spent like this; holding Ash' body close while wondering why I never had the guts to tell him how I felt, until Brock and Joel found me and took me numbly back to the cabin. I carried Ash the whole way, not letting anyone else even touch him. This is my burden. My pain.

"Misty... Are you feeling alright?"

"I feel like such crap. Why won't you leave me alone?"

Brock had been trying to cheer me up all morning. I don't want his help, I only want to sit next to Ash' body and think about all the good times we had together. Even the weather seemed to be mocking me; it was a bright and beautiful day. Except the world seemed much less beautiful now.

"The police will be here soon to remove Ash' body and question us about occurrences."

"Question us? What, like we're criminals?"

"No, Misty, but they will want to know what happened. No doubt they'll start a search for the drowzee to put it down."

"Oh God! I don't want to think about it right now."

"I ought to tell you that Joel found it when we brought you back last night. He says it has had a change of heart witnessing such a selfless sacrifice and will no longer attack humans. Joel is helping it find a new home, I don't know where."

"But... But it killed Ash! How can you help it escape after what it's done?"

"Misty," he sighed, "We're all sad for our loss, but you must realize that Ash willingly gave his life to save yours. It wasn't taken from him. Besides, revenge won't bring Ash back."

"I know but I... I..."

Brock held me up as I again collapsed into tears.

"I just wish I had Ash back for a minute. Just for a minute so I can tell him how much... How much I loved him."

"I think he might have known. I know he cared about you a great deal. Clearly enough for this to happen."

"But how could he know? I was overbearing and argumentative towards him. I couldn't even bring myself to forgive him for such a silly little thing he said. I took him for granted, Brock. I thought he'd always be there."

"Somehow I don't think any of that really mattered in the end. I reckon that he knew deep down."

Could he have known? I don't think so. I never even got close to telling him... except... when Ash got us both lost a few nights ago. What was it I said?

'After I left my sisters and the gym, I got pretty lonely sometimes until I met you.'

And then Ash' thoughtful silence afterwards. He knew. He _knew_. And he loved me back. Oh God!

* * *

**Author's Notes**

First piece of fanfic (and indeed any kind of creative writing) ever!

Given that I'm new, I should probably give a little background. I started watching Pokemon around 1999 or something but then stopped about half way through the Johto League. Last year, I really got back into it again and especially AAML (because of course I'm older now and am looking for these kinds of things). After reading some excellent pieces by a couple of other authors here on FFN, I decided to try my own hand at it despite never having done well at English at school.

I have to say that the bread making scene was my favourite to write. I haven't yet watched any episodes where Misty does any cooking though (as far as I can remember). However, I can assure you that I will be far worse cook than she is. The scene was modelled on some of the blunders I have made before.

If you feel like reviewing, please do so and include advice about how to write better. I feel like this one wasn't written very well (it was hard doing this when I'm used to writing essays instead).


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